ell I have been at my job for just over 2 years now. I love it. Though I would love a job that is more specific to my interests. Or to have the ability to pursue other business ideas. Again, I am extremely grateful to my company for hiring me, but I have honestly felt under valued since the beginning. So I attempted to renegotiate my contract, time to start moving forward.
To prepare, I did a lot of online research. Lots of searching for things like, “how to ask for a raise”, “average pay of software developer in my area.” There is a lot of good articles to help people understand the process. But it is basically the same as anything, if someone wants to put out the time and effort, someone can learn just about anything online.
I had been thinking about this off and on for about a year, if not more. I started having a re-occurring thought, “what are you waiting for.” I have proven my skills at work. I have been constantly advancing my abilities. And I wont stop. It is time to advance to the next stage.
So I messaged my boss and told him I wanted to talk about my contract. It actually started going wrong from the start. We scheduled it on a vacation day. So there was a bit of confusion with that. Kind of set the trend even.
I prepared a speech. Saying lots of things about how much I liked my job, and how valuable I am. That I wanted to stay here, and do great things. But I clearly did not practice enough. I chocked in the beginning and left out a ton. I don’t think I did a very good job selling myself.
We talked for a little while. I enjoyed most of it, once I stopped being so anxious. I struggle with anxiety all the time, I just usually win. And the only people that do not fail, do not do anything. Anxiety is a weakness of mine, and I must make efforts to strengthen my social skills.
So I decided to ask to talk to him again. I asked him if he would tell me more about how the company was founded, as he is a co-founder. Turns out I had bad timing, he was busy. And now I have a 5 days weekend. So I’m not sure how to proceed, maybe write him an email.
I love my job, but it is e-commerce, not computer science. Though the search engine I created could “learn.” But there are lots of opportunities to do amazing things with modern hardware and software. I specifically am interested in computer vision, for many reasons. But I need to focus more on this as it is a large endeavor. And a full time job of software developing can have a negative effect on my personal software development projects.
When I originally got my job, there were a lot of extra risk factors my company would have had to consider. I have no degree, no professional experience in the field, and being blind, I was happy to take whatever they would give me. It basically put me at an entry level pay, yet I am far from entry level in performance. But that was good enough at the time.
Part of why this was a good deal is I had plenty to learn. And thats what I did. I have been adding tools to my tool box non stop. I’ve used many new programming languages. I’ve built powerful and elegant systems. In a short time my value went up exponentially as I learned new skills, and perfected others.
At the same time, the value I got out of performing my job dropped a bit. I’m still learning, I’m still building news things. After a point, it takes a lot more to gain a little bit, when it comes to skills and learning. So my value went up exponentially, as my gains went from exponential to linear. I still have a lot to do here, a lot to learn, but I have a lot more to learn somewhere else.
So that is what it comes down to. I need more compensation to make up for my added value, and slower rate of return. Or I need to move on to a place where I can make another big push into the future.
In that future, I see machine learning. My reasons are many, but I can build systems that will directly help me function in life. I need to work with computer vision, and machine learning. Because I will uniquely benefit from advances in this field, and I think I have a unique and powerful perspective on how to “see” with limited resources. This is one of my life goals, and I can taste it.
I really think I have a lot to do. I need to create a company to help turn humanity towards a better future, and perhaps be independently wealthy. Will this be solar power, home automation, vegan ice cream, or any of countless possibilities? There is one thing they all have in common, they take money to start. I’m better off, financially, then I ever have been, but I have a ton of debt and I still cant keep from draining my savings every month or so.
No matter the outcome, it will be good. If I get the raise I need to stay, that will open up new opportunities. If I do not get what I need, it will be harder, but I will adjust my course, and set my sights on my refined goals. No matter what happens, I will grow from this.